The Sea of Fortune
by Sapfarah
Summary: Maxi, the loud mouthed, foul mouthed, extremely talkative pirate gives a record of his recent life...


The sea of Fortune -- by Sapfarah  
  
Call me pimp all you want, you think I care? When you work on a   
boat you meet all kinds of scum; pimp is even a complement. You have   
no idea what the sea does to you. It's a b%tch, I'm telling you. The   
people of the sea are by no means gentlemen... they don't know   
manners when they lay flat before their face...  
If only my old man could see me now... hah... he'd be shouting   
his weak lounges like hell...  
Nah, I don't regret. I'm my own man, take my own decisions and   
don't have anyone to answer too.  
Glad you noticed I don't /look/ like a harbour man. I take care   
of my appearance. I take pride in my looks. You didn't call me a pimp   
for nothing, did you?  
So my appearance in a place like this calls for trouble...   
only, my friend, I know how to fight...  
I'd go ahead and demonstrate right now but I don't feel like.   
Maybe when we get a little more off shore... I only have one pair of   
nunchakus, the other... I swear that bastard Kilik stole it from me!   
If I could get my hands on him, I'd...   
I was taken in by his looks, I mean, wouldn't anyone? He was   
and looked very young with a cheek smooth as a girl's, had that   
innocent untainted look on his face, that kind of "I'm still pure and   
untouched from the world" thing but when I found out he was disciple   
to the Edge Master, it was too late and one pair of nunchakus was   
gone. Gone!  
I swear, if I had my hands on him I'd strangle his precious   
throat and give an end to his life as a walking heartthrob... Eh, I   
know girls fall for that innocent type, hell, I was just the same   
once upon... but that won't bring my nunchaku back and I really loved   
that weapon. It was almost identical to the pair I have now, only the   
handles were a very dark maroon colour unlike the black ones of the   
one left, with diamond shaped rivets and the chain almost chimed as I   
toyed it, a little better than the one left...  
I don't know. It seems like the couple is parted and now they   
feel lonely apart...  
Crew says that maybe Kilik has nothing to do with it, he   
couldn't use nunchakus anyway, he fought with a staff in that odd   
dwarpa~ dwarma~ something style, never was good with Hindu deities,   
needless to say I don't believe in any gods on this world... Can't   
fasten how Sophitia could worship all twelve gods of her pantheon and   
all the so many more others she knew off, the knowledge alone being   
enough to weight my head...   
I don't care how many gods exist in the world, I only want to   
find one who can tell me where the hell did my nunchaku get lost but   
I don't exactly have hopes for that. Gods are known to screw up on   
our expense, like that Suzano one, master of the Lightning once upon   
who was said to be expelled from the celestial kingdom down to earth   
as a punishment... well thanks a lot you-up-theres, so very kind of   
you to utilise us as your personal hell, we appreciate, be sure! If   
only I could get my hands upon a god and strangle him...  
Now you know my tempers as well. Name's Maxi, nice to meet you   
and I'm a man of the sea, even if I look like a pimp, thanks a lot   
and my moods are a lot like those waters. Ever changing. Don't trust   
me. You'd be right to. But while you're on my boat and rely on it,   
just like the vessel relies on the sea, better do as I say or jump.   
Don't argue with me. You'll lose.  
Trust me.  
This is my boat. Together we've seen more than we can tell...   
Well, she's a reliable girl... and look at her curves... amazing   
aren't they?  
Girl and I have seen many people... we have passed many across   
those tricky waters and came back safe...  
If only she could talk... she could have given a better   
narration of the story...  
...and then again, I know it's getting boring, but she would   
tell me who got my nunchakus!  
Whatever, Kilik wanted to go to the other side and I agreed...   
in fact I even transported him for free, you know what happened? Some   
ass pirates felt like ravishing my girl and Kilik took up to kick   
their ass... Well, not that I sat back and watched, I shattered a few   
bones but I have to confess that had it not been for Kilik being   
there on time and going into it, my boat would be long gone by and   
surely that would also include...  
Crap, stop whimpering about those nunchakus!!!  
I'll find myself new. I'll get myself a new weapon.  
It's so enervating when I act like a kid...  
Crap me...  
So, to make the long story short, I took Kilik across the   
channel and said goodbye... halfway on my return, feeling like the   
day was bright and the water calm enough to permit training while   
sailing, I went to my room to find out... you guessed.  
I then found out Kilik was disciple to the Edge Master... but   
it was already too late. You see, it's only natural that he's the   
straight suspect...  
And I liked the boy...  
Must be part of the sea as well. The fate. Seriously now, do   
you think that this monster below us is only the flat blue surface   
you see?  
Oh-ho, ho! You have no freaking idea how deep it's down there!   
It's a hell of a way down, I'm telling you. And you say that monster   
cannot influence fortune?  
You should see it when it frustrates! Then it towers way above   
you and you will be lucky to know how your ship went down!  
The sea is all around everywhere. It breathes and its breath   
surrounds us and makes our path. It ebbs and pulls away what's ours,   
it swells and brings forth what's to come. And we, ignorant or   
incompetent ones just sail over it... go past it, or so we say...   
because, you see, once you go over the sea, it somewhat filters you,   
you know? It's as if going through an invisible cloud and that cloud   
is fortune. This cloud attaches on you and may alter your life...   
most time, it does.  
I, ah, I have learned to live with the whims of the sea... I   
even learned to enjoy them. I sit on my boat and wait to see what new   
it will bring next to me. Even if sometimes it's painful, as it also   
takes away~ why did you have to remind me? Just as I had gone over   
it...  
Yeah, anyway, well lately it has brought a lot, it has brought   
to me many people who wanted to get to the other side for this reason   
or the other, they didn't say... There seems to be something over   
there, kind of makes you wonder, doesn't it? Like, you've been there   
so many times and it takes a stranger to come and tell you he knows   
there's something going on over there that you don't... and the odd   
is, it's not just one, it's many and they all _know_ there's   
something happening over there... weird, eh? Kind of makes you   
flip... 'Ne spa?'  
This was supposed to be French. So I'm not exactly your learned   
gentleman but still don't try to call me names. I've smashed faces   
because they gave me a bad look and that b%tch with the white hair   
who called herself Ivy and acted like lady-snow surely had a guardian   
angel over her, or she'd make sushi for sharks! She actually had the   
nerve to call me names... who, her? She who had more of an @$$e than   
a face?  
No, pardon me, it was impossible to see the face when she was   
wearing leather stripes that merely made "throw down and screw at   
instant" just a tiny bit trickier. All you could see was stomach,   
legs and @$$e and even if she had her face to you, there wasn't much   
to see behind a silvery-blue tuft hiding one eye, the longest of her   
very short hair... So she was a nice set but who did she think she   
was? I didn't even make a pass on her, she thought I did, make it she   
_hoped_ I did, what exactly made her so certain I would be drooling   
over her? If only she could see some of the women I went with, she'd   
be rubbing her eyes and smudge the powder and the black line she wore   
to a muddy blot, befitting her face...   
I'm telling you she was a whore and a cheap one too. Don't tell   
me to respect a lady because there is no lady in her case. Seriously   
now, you must meet her to know. She'll give you that ice cold "bow at   
your queen or I'll smash you under my heel you lecher" look and   
you'll know. You'll want to grab her hair, smash her head upon your   
knee and give her what she deserves.  
No, upon my word, I wouldn't go down with her. I'm not that   
desperate yet.  
Have any idea what it is like to be on the sea? I'll tell you.   
You don't have pretensions. Woman or man, if she's against you, you   
just beat the hell out of them. Or they'll do. Survival is deeply   
rooted within you... you don't get an option to it. You don't respect   
anyone unless they gain your respect and for me, that's a hard thing   
to do. So far very few have gained my respect, or rather something   
very close to it. Taki was one of them, a female ninja who wanted to   
cross to the other side... she as well. There must be something   
really important on the other side. Maybe I should check out   
myself...  
Funny... so far, most of the people who went to the other side   
were fighters...  
Wait, now that I think about it, there come rumors from the   
other side as well about something going on... there is no smoke   
without a fire and then...  
There is the Edge Master as well.  
Damn, I had seen him the very night I returned from leaving   
Kilik, when I embarked in the port. He was there, as if waiting for   
me and he was the person I saw as I stepped down on the harbour...  
I bloated with rage and still he had his damned-so-calm   
imposing air and his voice sounded loud, he, argh, he submitted me to   
my unclaimed fear... Damn! And he confessed that he was Kilik's   
mentor, he told me so when I asked why the hell did he care whether I   
had crossed a young boy named Kilik over the other side...  
Don't you wish I had pestered him about my nunchaku?  
Okay, I admit it makes no sense as to why Kilik would have   
taken it... maybe to make me weaker, I'm a lot better with two   
nunchakus...  
They were my babies! I loved them and together we had a good   
time! How dared anyone part me from them?  
Damn, one nunchaku doesn't feel right any more!  
No matter. Like I said, many weird fighters have gone over the   
other side and among them, some who didn't look like fighters at   
all...  
...you think that maybe one of my men took the nunchakus to   
disguise himself as a fighter and therefore gain access over there   
and find out what's going on?  
Naah, I think not...  
...or maybe, well, fighters, nunchakus... maybe someone stroke   
a deal with another fighter over there and traded my nunchaku to   
them?  
I swear, if only I can get the guy who did this to me!...  
Yeah, well, like I said, some of the travellers didn't look at   
all like fighters. For one there was this young girl who came with   
her boyfriend or husband, the Korean couple... I don't remember the   
man's name but you could tell they were Korean, it's not just the   
looks but Koreans too have those three worded, sharp sounding names,   
bam, bam, bam, this or that. Well the girl had a beautiful name,   
Mina, matching her face, she was beautiful, she had a beaming smile   
and really beautiful hair, her name even matched mine... but noooo no   
no no, thanks no thanks, she wasn't for me! She was the kind of girl   
you touch and then her father, brother and possibly every other male   
of her family grabs your throat and tell you to marry her or else!   
No, I had my share of that, thank you very much and I know those   
girls at sight. They come from such a protective background it just   
beams in a pure security on their face. Besides, her escort who might   
have been worse than fiancee, like her brother, didn't seem like the   
guy you'd like to go up against for a small reason, such as a girl.  
Anyway, I had managed to exchange a few words with them, Mina   
mainly who was really sweet and talkative whereas her partner who   
turned out to be her fiancee was brooding all the time. I could have   
assumed he was a fighter, his bearing said so, but as for the girl, I   
hardly noticed her worked out hands with the distraction of her   
beauty and had it not been for the zanbatoh she was carrying with   
her... I thought she was holding it for her boyfriend but what   
chivalrous boyfriend would allow such a delicate girl as she looked   
to carry his weapons instead of sporting them by her side, then I   
also noticed how her boyfriend had a weapon of his own, therefore I   
realised what I was dealing with... A fighting couple then...   
amazing. Heh... I sure pity this guy. I mean, being married to a   
woman who can kick your ass?  
This is not my business to complain of course, I'm sure they   
know better to marry... unless the poor fellow 'touched' the girl and   
has no marriage-escaping option...  
Makes you feel like a laugh, doesn't it?  
Actually you are the only one of my latest customers, if they   
may be called so, well those who travel on my ship to go across that   
actually shares a moment to talk with me... Even though you don't say   
a lot, just about as much as Voldo, or whatever that freak was called   
anyway, but he had a weird mask over his face, well, what could be   
called a mask, actually stripes of iron restraining as it seemed his   
mouth and his eyes; did he see at all? It couldn't help much as a   
helmet, well not against skilled fighters, finding target through the   
gaps was dead easy and well, a weapon wouldn't hurt much hitting upon   
it, would it? Anyway, I think he was deaf or something so I gave up   
talking to him after a while... You think I talk too much? I can't   
tell by your expression, you seem to be listening to me... It means a   
lot that you listen, actually very few people listen nowadays and the   
sea... ah, you know, it's a lonely place.  
But you should talk some more. Surely you too have things to   
share.  
Anyway, like I said, you are a pleasant change... Most of my   
latest travellers have been morose and I'm tired of them. Even Kilik   
was morose to some extend, well, he never cracked a smile, unlike   
me... Reason enough they call me pimp, I'm a lady killer... Yeh,   
really, you don't believe? Boy, I bet I've got children all over the   
world out there I'll never meet... and I've only just started... but   
enough about me. I was telling you about my customers, where was I?   
Oh yeah, about some other morose guys I've met. I think Hwang took   
the cake, oh yeah, Hwang was the name of the guy who was with the   
fighting girl I told you before, remember? Mina, the little beauty   
with the zanbatoh... Well, almost, as his solemnity was not at all   
natural, you kind of thought he was repressed under the bold   
personality of his fiancee, quite possible... do you have any idea   
how far a man can go for the woman he loves?  
Women... ah, what would the world be without them? And they   
have to learn to fight to frighten us and declare us as completely   
useless...  
But you got to love them, don't you?  
Anyway, Hwang might have just been dull or bleary in character   
and therefore had few to say... but Mitsurugi, that was a natural   
morose. You could _tell_ there was something heavy upon him, what can   
I say, he looked like he had messed around with his master's wife or   
something... hah, couldn't he have taken the daughter instead? I'm   
telling you, I'd take the mother as well, whatever, you just wouldn't   
argue with him. He was a swordsman this Mitsurugi and spend all of   
the time leaning on the reef and gazing at the sea... well, over   
there, you get my drift? Over there, to where everyone is going... I   
wonder what it was that he was seeing, only that I never got the   
chance to ask him. The only time I talked with him, we almost got   
into a fight. No, I'm not challenging fights all over the place,   
don't you start now! It was that Ivy b%tch, it was her fault!  
Hell, she started it and called me names, she claimed my men   
had tried to snatch her, who wouldn't with that thing you were   
wearing, lady? I mean, picture this. A woman naked apart from a set   
of polished black leather stripes barely covering her front and over   
her breasts, leaving her stomach and behind to open view, closing   
tightly around her neck and she had this so very smooth pale skin,   
she was all legs, a really tall slim woman who eyed all with one icy   
cold blue eye, she was like a snow queen and alike cold and cruel...   
Well, as she said my men tried to snatch her and she had crippled a   
few hands, I wasn't particularly moody and told her that she got what   
she deserved and she called me a slime and stuff like I was ogling at   
her and desired to have her... yeh, in your dreams, b%tch! I told her   
to fuck off, that's only a bit of it and then she drew a weapon of   
some sort, it appeared to be a sword but it was constructed from   
tiled parts tied on the inside with a chain making it a whip on the   
side... really, she walked around like a cheap whore and expected not   
to be picked up?  
I was about to draw my nunchakus, well, one of them by that   
time, shouting verbal abuse to her and her mother, father, god and   
whatever else that came to mind, seeing the ironic smile on her face   
when... do you believe in the power of the spirit? They say there is   
this kind of thing and it is so strong that when one looks at you,   
you feel like he pokes into your body... for real, you know? Well,   
that's what I felt and although there was a crowd all around me and   
her as well, I felt of all that crowd the eyes of Mitsurugi looking   
at me.  
I don't know why he stared at me, he didn't look particularly   
interested in getting up to protect a 'lady' I think he didn't like   
her much either, maybe he was just curious but his stare had such   
intensity it pulled me out from the contrast I was at...  
I looked at him and our eyes locked. I'm telling you, it was   
plainly annoying as I felt submitted by his look... as if he was   
beating me down without force and yet as effectively...  
I walked with the nunchaku prepared at hand right into him with   
apparent intentions. The air smelled like a fight.  
"You have some kind of a problem?" I said clearly approaching   
him.  
He was sitting with his back to the most of the ship so he   
would have his precious view of the sea ahead but he was turned to me   
and the riot. I came as close as right before him and yet he didn't   
move a bit, he only kept his face at me and I still remember his   
gaze... He looked up at me with a calm eye and yet it read of   
determination to draw his sword at a blink.  
"You like picking up fights, that's up to you but I advise you   
not to start on me," he said in a tone unwavering but damn convincing   
I'm telling you.  
Surprisingly, there was no fight that night. I stood there   
looking at him and read that whereas he was ready to fight if it was   
necessary, he preferred to avoid at the moment. Somehow... at that   
moment I shared it and nodded a couple of times and then backed away,   
slowly, ever looking at him.  
I don't know what it was in his mind so hefty that he was so   
calm at a sea-man's challenge, we are known to be unrelenting and so   
hot-blooded you know that now, don't you? Well, he acted as if I was   
another swordsman with codes like him, nah, I don't have codes of   
honour, like I said, I don't even have a god, am I likely to have   
honour? No. But I retreated without a fight. And that was the event.  
That's why I'm telling you Ivy was mighty lucky, he had just   
spared her life. As I walked past her, I didn't even gift her with a   
look, even though I knew she had that assertive look in her face   
behind her hair... I swear though, if she had said as much as a word,   
I'd throw her over the sea!  
...sometimes, I regret I didn't.  
We're almost there, is my story tiring you so much?  
Oh well. Now you know what I have to face on every traveller I   
transport. And all of them, not a word! Why doesn't anyone ever talk   
to me? People from all over the world come on my boat and they tell   
me nothing! And I am stuck on this route for the season, no, I'm not   
going further open now, haven't you heard of the shipwrecks happening   
lately? I'm not crazy yet and I love my boat. I want to stick to it   
for as long as I can.  
You hear that girl?  
Stay with papa. Don't go. Okay?  
Aah, sentimental... Cannot be helped...  
Happens when you spend all your time on a place...  
It's not like the land. The land is static. Whereas, the   
boat... it moves. It floats. It struggles the sea with you. Whenever   
you tie on a harbour you always know that you as a team have won over   
one more fight over the sea... but you know that... sooner or later,   
one of you or both will go down... one way or the other...  
Happens with most everything, doesn't it?  
Weeell, anyway... Like I was saying, you get to meet a lot of   
weird people... You know who was the weirdest so far? Siegfried.   
There was something about him, I don't know but... if Mitsurugi   
looked sorry he looked like... very weird I'm telling you, he seemed   
as if he was holding it before he would break down and cry...  
...in fact, I would have sworn... he had come as close to doing   
so once, when facing a huge disaster... but then he hadn't let it   
go... and you know... in such cases... if you don't let go, it stays   
forever on you and you know what I'm saying? Forever. It'll never let   
go of you, just like you didn't release it back then and it will   
continue tormenting you to the end...  
But he was a nice boy, other than that. He too wanted to go to   
the other side, didn't tell me why or what he was looking for... but   
hey, I didn't want to bother him, I'm not the one to pry into others,   
I don't want to come anywhere close to trouble, I've done fine so   
far, I don't want to change it. Oh, forget, Siegfried was weird but   
he was okay, he was a kind boy... he never talked too much and when   
he did, he spoke silently, like a very shy kid... Weird isn't it? He   
had a full grown up voice and he talked more silently than a shy   
child... Pity him... Oh yeah, and he was holding this impossibly huge   
sword, two edged one... Really wonder, why does everyone believe the   
sword to be such a good weapon? To be honest, I couldn't use a sword   
if I wanted to. I don't think I'd get used to holding a so rigid   
weapon... I like the whipping motion of the nunchaku... then maybe a   
sword like Ivy's turning to a whip, damn, why did you remind me of   
that b%tch?  
I swear, if I ever see her again, I'll smash her face! Oh if   
only I see her again!...  
Nevertheless... It kinda makes you wonder what's so special   
about over there... Say, there's the coast, see? Look at it... you   
wouldn't say it's any different than other lands you've seen, would   
you? And yet you have all so many strange people wanting to go over   
there and all of them... fighters...  
Now that I think about it, all of them had also been morose...   
think it's a coincidence?  
No... they are not fooling me... I know there's something going   
on there and they're not telling me... but I don't need them to tell   
me anyway...   
You know what? I think I know what to do. I'll go there myself   
and find out. Yeah... why not? Instead of going back and forth and   
all over the sea, I'll go there for sometime and see what draws those   
people over there... it must be something, or I don't know why they   
all rush to it... Maybe it'll keep me on land instead but then,   
that's why I'm telling you, the sea leads your fortune. It placed me   
right there, where I had to transport all of them and find out about   
it... and looks like it's gonna be a bad weather tomorrow... I think   
the big girl is saying that I should not embark for a trip to return   
but rather... tie down and maybe stay over here for a while... what   
do you think? Isn't it apparent?  
Must leave you now, you cannot trust those morons to tie up a   
ship on their own, you have to do it all by yourself... See you later   
then. You'll stay around for a few days, won't you?   
...why do I think that somehow you're after whatever there is   
out over there?  
Nooo, you don't fool me... I know you are... You won't tell me   
then, will you? No matter, we'll find out together. Great, we'll get   
to talk a little more, I really like your company...  
Don't get lost on me, you hear? I'll see you later, on the   
port. Then we can talk some more and maybe I'll get you to tell me   
why so many people go over there... I'm itching now, I'm telling you!   
It's gotta be something big, I mean, so many fighters...  
I don't know... Do you think there's a chance I'll find a cool   
pair of nunchakus?  



End file.
